The Godfather
by mackdizzy
Summary: With John and Mary away on Honeymoon, Sherlock invited Archie over to spend the week. A funny and heartwrenching week will ensue.
1. Chapter 1

I had to admit I was excited. Which, frankly, was weird. When was the last time I'd been excited about _anything,_ other than a good murder mystery? But, as I looked out the window and saw the black minivan pulling up to 221B, I had to admit, I was actually _excited._

_What's to become of you, Sherlock?_

The small human practically jumped out of the car and quite exuberantly ran up the steps. I nervously checked my watch, thinking of all the things that could go wrong. What if John and Mary had forgotten something, or decided to come back? Though, reasonably, I'd known that they'd been wanting to go on Honeymoon for ages now. Now that they were finally gone, I was going to be feeling a bit-dare I say it-_lonely. _Which is why I invited the small human over. What was his name again? Oh Yes. Archie.

He appeared to be having some trouble getting his suitcase up the stairs. I went downstairs to help him.

Boy, was I acting strangely.

"Mr. Holmes, Mr. Holmes!" Archie said, bouncing up and down on his feet and leaving ugly brown stains on the carpet. I swore to myself I wouldn't mention it, though. He was only 8 years old.

"Archie, please take your shoes off before you prance around aimlessly on my spotless carpets."

Sometimes a man just can't help himself.


	2. Playing Pirates

"So, Sherlock," Archie said, shoes now off, "What should we do?"

Ah. Yes. Entertain the small child. That might be a bit of a problem.

"Well-I was hoping you might have some ideas, Archie."

He started jumping up and down again.

"Yes yes yes! We can watch movies and play board games and go to the park and make jello and start a lemonade stand and-"

Woah woah woah, _what?_ Movies? JELLO?

But then I got my great idea.

Archie was still rambling off ideas-did he just say _finger painting?_ when I got my great idea.

"O_r,_ I said, cutting in, "We could play _pirates._"

Archie looked at me quite confused. Had the small child never played pirates before?

"Surely you've played pirates before, Archie."

He shook his head. Poor kid.

"What sort of a childhood did you _have?_ We must get started right away. Come on, Cardboard boxes in the attic."

* * *

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. He seemed to be having a good time. It brought back so many memories of my childhood-ones I was happy to relieve, and ones I wasn't so happy to. But I'm sure nothing like that would happen, right? I was obviously the smarter one. End of discussion.

* * *

"Did you have fun today, Archie?" I said, as he got into bed. I remember Mycroft saying that to me every night, before bed. It's nice to carry on tradition, though I never thought that was a sentence I'd ever say myself.

He nodded at me. But just as I was leaving the room, he spoke.

"I don't have a godfather, Sherlock."

Wait, what? Where did that come from? Surely he must know I'm not good at sentimental discussion.

"That's okay Archie, you don't have to, not everybody does." There. Simple answer, discussion avoided.

"Will you do it?"

The sentence hit me like a brick to the head. What was this little boy asking of me?

"Will I do what, Archie?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Will you be my godfather?"

Well, that was it. I couldn't let this little boy down, the one whom I cared so much about. The one who reflected me perfectly. I knew I could be sort of a Mycroft figure to him-But I was determined not to mess up. I tried my best to smile at him.

"Of course I will, if that makes you happy. Goodnight, Archie."

I closed the door and discovered a tear on my face. Where had _that_ come from? I wiped it off quickly. The small child mustn't see me crying, what sort of vacation would _that_ be for him?

"


	3. Scarves and Jello

I stood awkwardly at the counter, watching Archie bounce on the balls of his feet.

"Careful!" I told him. "That water is BOILING hot."

"I know, GFS!" He said, placing it on the table with immaculate care. I appreciated that.

GFS, by the way, stands for Godfather Sherlock. It's what he's been calling me for two days now. I don't want to shoot him down by correcting it, and also,-but don't you dare tell anyone I said this-I kind of liked it when he called me that. It's nice to be appreciated.

"Do you want me to-"

"No, GFS! Let me do it!"

He poured sugar into the bowl, licking up most of it on the way. There goes my experiment. Oh well. I didn't really mind.

He opened the packet with some difficulty, and then poured it into the bowl. We put it in the fridge.

* * *

We sat on the couch while we were waiting, and then Archie turned to me.

"GFS, I have something to show you! May I please go get it?"

"Of Course you can, Archie."

Well, at least he had manners.

When he came in, I admitted I had to laugh. Around his neck he wore the most ridiculously knitted and hastily made blue scarf. It looked like It had been made my a drunk hedgehog-and believe me, I know what I'm talking about. But I didn't say any of that out loud. What I did say was "Come here Archie, let me fix that for you."

What have I _done?_ Did I just tell the small child that I _knitted?_ Even _John_ didn't know that. Even _MYCROFT_ didn't know that! Oh well. It wasn't the first cat I'd let out of the bag this week. He sat on my lap and we fixed up his scarf until it looked just like mine, minus a few loose threads here and there.

"Thank you so much, GFS! Now we're twinsies!"

* * *

That night, after tucking him into bed, I went and sat in my favorite armchair with a bowl of jello, which I had to admit I was enjoying. After a few minutes, I took the scarf off my neck and started tugging at a few of the threads. It's perfection had started annoying me.

"Thank you, GSA," I whispered.


	4. A 3 AM phone call?

It was three A.M. in the morning, and I couldn't sleep. Archie was fine, at least I hope he was. Maybe I should go check on him again. even though I checked on him 5 minutes ago.

I sighed and got up. It's not like I had anything better to do.

But then the phone rang.

I slowly picked up.

"Hello?"

"Sherlock? It's me, John."

Was he crying? Oh god. This was bad. Not now.

"What is it John?"

"It's-It's Mary. She's gone missing."

God dangit. Not now. ANYTIME but now.

I sighed. "Where are you two?"

"You don't know where we went on honeymoon?"

"I never pay attention to your "romantic" talk!"

"We're in HAWAII!"

Oh, not good, not good at all. Archie _hates_ plane rides.

"Uh, I may have to bring someone alone with me."

"Who?"

Here we go. Moment of truth.

"Archie."

"SHERLOCK!"

"What? I may have been getting a bit-lonely-without you.

God, I sounded ridiculous.

I heard John sigh on the other end.

"Come. quickly."

Well, looks like I was going to check on Archie once again after all.


End file.
